


The Unconcern of Jellyfish

by Rehlia



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Aquariums, Awkward Crush, Awkward Dates, Awkwardness, Bad Bro AU, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gift Fic, M/M, Pining, Secret Crush, Some Swearing, bad bro swap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-27 07:42:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15019886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehlia/pseuds/Rehlia
Summary: “I'm just thinking,” Blue said, evading Red's question somewhat. He sounded thoughtful and a little distracted. “It must be nice to be a jellyfish… They look as if they never worry about a thing.”All Red wants is for his secret crush Blue to be happy. Why does Blue's asshole of a brother have to make this so hard?





	The Unconcern of Jellyfish

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sin_Cognito](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sin_Cognito/gifts).



> My two year anniversary raffle prize for Sin-Cognito! The prompt was: Underswap Bad Bro AU, So, Blue (swap Sans) and Swap (swap Pap) have a very strained relationship, mostly due to Swap being very distant and cold towards Blue. Red (Fell Sans) is very upset about his secret crush, Blue, feeling so down. Will he be able to comfort him while keeping his feelings hidden? Surprise them with the ending. 
> 
> I hope you like it, and congrats again on winning the raffle :D
> 
> Names in this fic:  
> Red=Fell Sans  
> Blue=Swap Sans  
> Swap=Swap Pap  
> Edge=Fell Pap
> 
> [My tumblr](https://rehlia.tumblr.com/)

“I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU FELL ASLEEP ON THE JOB AGAIN!” Edge complained. 

“was only a little nap, boss.”

“YOU ALREADY NAPPED THE WHOLE NIGHT!”

“that's called sleeping, boss.”

“DON'T GIVE ME THAT ATTITUDE!”

Red chuckled, his grin stretching a little wider across this skull. In spite of his complaints, he could see his brother struggle to suppress a grin of his own. They didn't mean anything bad with what they said and they both knew it. 

“SO! WITH WHAT LAZINESS DO YOU INTEND TO OCCUPY YOURSELF NOW THAT YOUR BROTHER, THE GREATEST AND MOST TERRIBLY AMAZING OF SIBLINGS, HAS TO LEAVE THIS LUNCH FOR HIS OWN PURPOSES?” 

“nothin’ big. blue wanted to go shopping ‘n invited me to tag along,” Red answered as casually as possible, ignoring the flutter behind his ribcage at the memory of the invitation. 

“I SEE. A CASUAL OUTING BETWEEN FRIENDS.”

“yup.”

“A COMPLETELY INNOCENT MEETING BETWEEN TWO VERY PLATONICALLY INVOLVED SKELETONS.”

“boss…”

“A PASSIONATE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN TWO YOUNG, STRAPPING MEN, CELEBRATING THEIR ENTIRELY PLATONIC FRIENDSHIP.”

“b-bro!”

“A STEAMY LITTLE FRIENDSHIP FUMBLE -”

“fuck you!!”

“NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH. HEH. I THINK I SHALL LEAVE THAT ACTIVITY TO OTHER PARTICIPANTS TO ENGAGE IN. PLATONICALLY. WINK.”

“i’m _leaving_!”

He could hear his brother's laughter behind him until he closed the door to his workshop behind him, walking perhaps a little faster than he normally would have. 

Did that little fucker have to be like that?! 

Just because they had less reason to hide how well they actually got along with each other while in their own home, that didn't mean Papyrus should openly tease him! A secret was still a secret, dammit! They had sworn a brotherly oath and all that shit! Where was that honour his brother always droned on about, huh? Maybe it wasn't a secret where revealing it could mean the difference between life or death… but it sure felt that way for Red. 

He just. 

He _liked_ Blue. A lot. 

Which his brother found endlessly amusing considering that Red and Blue were in many ways the same person. When they had first met their alternate versions from a different timeline, Red had made fun of his alternate, thinking him weak, naive, childish and silly. Like most of that universe, to be honest. Finding out how wrong he was had been a slow process that left him with emotions completely opposite to what they had been before. Blue was a lot sharper, more intelligent and mature than most monsters gave him credit for. He was strong, focused, curious, kind. He loved the stars just as much as Red did even if he had decided to become a sentry instead of pursuing his scientific interests like Red did. He was more than the sweet and ignorant fool Red had thought him to be.

And unfortunately, Blue's timeline turned out not to be all sunshine and roses either. 

The thought stayed on the back of his mind as he punched the coordinates for Blue’s timeline into the machine. A few minutes later, he stepped out of a very similar machine in a completely different basement. The air was brighter here, clearer, the atmosphere less oppressive. His magic felt invigorated and his emotions calmer. That still didn't make the thought at the back of his soul banish though. He made his way up the stairs, out of the basement and to the front door of the house, where he took a moment to compose himself before he knocked. 

“Coming!”

The door flew open and there was Blue, smile widening as he recognised Red. 

“Wowzers! You're early today,” Blue commented. He seemed so happy about it, the smile growing wide enough to crinkle the corners of his eye sockets. It made him look even more attractive. 

Red, who wasn't exactly known for his punctuality otherwise, felt a faint scattering of sweat collect on the back of his skull. Crap. He had been so aggravated over his brother and so eager to get here… was he being too obvious?! And was he blushing? Shit, probably. Blue looked too good, too handsome and cute with that socket-crinkling smile. 

“uh.” 

Wow. What an example of eloquence he was. Look at him with his two advanced degrees, making an idiot of himself. 

“Come in, I still need a moment,” Blue told him, stepping aside so Red could enter. He was glad for the distraction before he could spiral into a frenzied mess of anxious thoughts.

The house both looked and felt different from his own; instead of the black leather and red fabrics that dominated his and Papyrus’ house in their own verse, Blue's home had softer and more varied colours. Pale oranges and purples and greens made up most of the living room. The only similarity was the relative austerity of the decoration - there were close to none, save for a rock in a little dish on the table. 

Red immediately wanted to amble over to the couch to get comfortable while Blue finished up in the kitchen, but… 

The couch was occupied. 

“heya,” Swap said, raising a hand lazily to greet him. He was holding a bottle of honey in it and while his expression was friendly, Red still felt a sense of unease and anger bubble up inside of him. 

“hi.”

“going out?”

“yeah. ‘s just a shopping trip!” he blurted out, immediately feeling stupid for it because there was no reason to assume this was anything else of course. Like a date or something. Because it wasn't. Obviously.

Swap just shrugged and took another swig from his honey bottle before pulling out his cellphone, showing no interest in what Red and Blue got up to. It left Red feeling both relieved and upset at his lack of care. Why did he have to be like this? Even though he was glad that Swap wasn’t suspicious of him and his motives for hanging out with Blue all the time… still. This wasn’t about him. This was about Blue. Who was coming back into the living room right now. 

“Okay, I'm ready!” he declared. 

“ok cool -” Red began. 

“Oh, one moment though!”

Oh no. 

“Papy, I have left you some leftovers in the fridge, so if you get hungry later you can -”

“Uhuh…” Swap wasn't even looking up. The noise of agreement was a careless one, thrown out automatically. As if Blue's words were nothing but background noise. 

Oh no...

“S-so, just in case you get hungry - “ Blue attempted.

“Mhmmm... I’ll just go to Muffet's...” Swap shrugged, sockets fixed on his cellphone screen. It still wasn't entirely clear if he had really heard what Blue said.

“Oh. But that's so unheal… I mean, it's such a waste if there's food in the house?” Blue coaxed, visibly wincing a little. 

“I like Muffet's.” The soft sound of bones clicking against glass was heard as Swap tapped away on his cellphone screen. Still utterly distracted.

“Uhm… w-well, anyway. It's there if you want it.” Blue looked sad, staring down at his brother who didn't bother enough to pay him even the bare minimum amount of attention. “And I already fed my pet rock, so you l-lazybones don't have to…”

Swap snorted. It was a quiet sound, almost inaudible, but it was enough to stop Blue dead in his tracks. How that shithead managed to make such a small noise of amusement so condescending and cold, Red had no idea. It made him want to rip Swap's skull clean off his spine but unfortunately that would upset Blue. So all he could do was clench his fists and grind his teeth and try not to explode while Blue crumbled.

“So I… uhm. See you later, Papy…”

“Mmmh.” 

Swap wouldn't be there when Blue came back home. Red could see it in his expression, hear it in his voice. He was sure Blue knew it too and that made everything worse. Blue stood there, staring at his brother while the silence between them stretched far past awkward. 

“c’mon, let's go,” Red eventually prompted. 

Blue followed him out of the house silently and didn't speak up while they walked up towards the ferry either. 

Red really wanted to say something… 

He had brought the topic up, twice, in the beginning when he had first changed his opinion about Blue and witnessed Swap's behaviour. After realising how cool Blue really was, he wanted to see if he could do something about the bad relationship between Swap and Blue. So he’d asked Blue what the deal was. He hadn't expected the reaction he had gotten. Blue had sounded completely _lifeless_ when he said he didn't want to talk about it, and begged Red not to ask about it again. He had tried in a more roundabout way later but once more, Blue shut him down in that eerie, emotionless voice. Red hadn't dared to ask a third time. 

“so, uh… you wanted to go ta new home, right?” he eventually asked to break the silence. 

“Yep,” Blue agreed, brightening up considerably now that he had something more pleasant to focus on. “It has the biggest selection and I thought it would be fun to visit the aquarium again!”

“yeah, sounds cool,” Red told him with a smile. “new home's too dangerous to visit for fun back where i come from. seein’ yours is a nice change of pace. good choice.”

That seemed to have been exactly the right thing to say. Blue beamed at him, even flushed a little. Red happened to know that Blue thrived on positive attention and compliments, whether because he was similar to Red's own brother or because of the strained relationship with Swap. The truth was that Red didn't care where they went, as long as he got to hang out with Blue. Any choice was a good choice if Blue was there. But so what if he used a bit of deliberate flattery to get Blue's mood up. It was for a good reason. 

The ferry carried them all the way to Hotland, where they paid and said goodbye to the Man who spoke in Hands. From there, it was a bit of a walk until they reached New Home, but they were so caught up in their conversation that Red barely noticed how much he was moving. 

New Home looked beautiful in this verse. The soft grey stone was clean and the streets were lively with crowds of monsters, all of them peaceful. It was nothing like the grim murkiness the city had in Red's universe, no distrustful glances or angry shouting matches or gangs escalating their violence. Just a friendly place to hang out and buy stuff. It was a lot of fun helping Blue to pick out new clothes and shop for rarer daily necessities and ingredients the general shop in Snowdin didn't offer. He even begrudgingly helped Blue pick out a small gift to bring back to Swap. He hated the idea but it meant a lot to Blue. 

His favourite part by far though was the aquarium. 

In Red's universe, the aquarium was merely a home for some aquatic monsters, a simple building that was barely maintained and kept by one of the gangs fighting for dominance in the city. Here in Blue's world, it housed monsters too, but the place also had tanks showcasing different species of fish and other animals that were native to the Underground. It was meant as a place for both education and relaxation. At any given day, school classes would visit to learn about biological life and how creatures worked that weren't made of magic, and there would be families and couples and single monsters visiting for fun as well. 

The whole place had a soft blue tint to it thanks to the water tanks and some areas were darker than others to imitate the natural habitats of the fish and other animals displayed. Apart from the chattering of the other visitors it tended to be quiet in there, with only the gurgling of the water and the hum of the filters audible. 

Red felt kind of awkward about how much he liked the place. It was so peaceful and everything, he couldn't help it. Plus, all that blue light reminded him of, well, Blue. 

When the hell did he get so sappy…

Blue had paused to sit down on a bench in front of one of the exhibits at some point. It contained several jellyfish that floated closely in front of the glass of the tank, their forms looking elegant and weightless as they moved. 

“do… do ya like these?” Red asked, sitting down next to Blue. He had never noticed Blue paying more attention to one type of fish over any other when they had visited before. He had always seemed happy to look at any exhibit equally. 

“I'm just thinking,” Blue said, evading Red's question somewhat. He sounded thoughtful and a little distracted. “It must be nice to be a jellyfish…”

“uh.” Red wasn't sure what to say to that. Why would anyone want to be a dumb fish without a single brain cell? 

“They look as if they never worry about a thing,” Blue continued. “They only float through their life without caring. Always unconcerned.” His voice was light just as before, and Red almost couldn't believe how he could say something like that while appearing so calm and egalitarian. 

It was almost the same tone Swap always used.

Blue, who always cared about others, who worked so hard, had been pushed to a point where he’d rather become like his brother, like a dumb jellyfish floating past without doing anything but poisoning others.

This was so fucked up. 

“uh, that’s...” Red mumbled, understanding what the other meant now. Why he would wish for something like that. He didn’t know how to react though. It creeped him out and what the hell was he supposed to say, knowing that Blue normally didn’t want to talk about this at all? He didn’t want to make it worse.

“I mean, not really of course,” Blue suddenly blurted out, looking self conscious now. He seemed to abruptly come out of his pensive state. “That would be silly. Then I couldn't be a guard and we couldn't hang out anymore.” An awkward laughter followed while his eye lights became fixed on the tank in a way that made it clear he was avoiding looking at Read. 

It was pretty clear that Blue felt uncomfortable with what he had just said and wanted to play it down. 

“pffff, nah, i’d still come ‘n hang out with ya,” Red said, infusing his voice with just the right amount of light amusement and teasing attitude. “even if ya were a cute little jellyfish.”

“No way,” Blue said, grinning a bit. Red didn’t know if his skull was tinted blue because of the lighting of the aquarium or because he was blushing. It was such a pretty shade.

“yes way,” he insisted. “i’d immediately see how clever ya are too. way more than the average jellyfish. so i’d hatch a plan to bust you out.” 

Blue was beginning to chuckle for real now, his smile easing into something so much more genuine. 

“And then?” 

“then we’d fight crime,” Red said, feeling his soul soar when Blue actually laughed at the sarcastic statement. This was what Blue deserved. Happiness. Laughter. He should have so much more of that. “you’d be captain jellyfish, hero of orphans and all that shit.”

There was no admonishment for his language. 

“What about you?” Blue asked instead while his eye lights began to glow brighter. 

“i’d be your scruffy but disarmingly charming sidekick of course,” Red told him with a wink, making Blue laugh again, louder this time. The tint of light blue was more intense on Blue’s zygomatic arches now. Definitely a blush. Red felt his own skull grow warmer. 

“I like that,” Blue said. Red’s soul did a flip at the tenderness of Blue’s voice, as if he’d unexpectedly missed a step on a staircase. “I like that a lot.”

He wanted to touch Blue. He really, really wanted to touch him. Put a hand to his skull and stroke his phalanges over the smooth bone right next to that smile. Pull him close and give him the hugs he deserved but was denied. Nuzzle him until his whole skull shone in the soft colour of his blush. 

“heh. you know me. always here for dumb jokes ‘n stories.” Red scratched the back of his skull, uncomfortably aware of his own body. He shouldn’t think that kind of stuff. He was only trying to cheer Blue up because the other was upset. 

Maybe it would cheer him up though. 

No, stop. 

“You know… “ Blue said thoughtfully, staring at the water while his legs swung back and forth. “You come from a world of ‘kill or be killed.’ A cruel world. But you're always kind to me. You always support me.” 

“c-course i do,” Red mumbled, feeling his skull heat up more. His soul was humming like static in his ribcage.

Blue finally turned to him with a smile as brilliant and beautiful as a summer sky. Or what Red imagined one to look like at least.

“I'm really lucky to have someone like you,” Blue said. “A friend like you who never lets me down.”

He hopped up from the bench, stretching briefly before he turned back to Red, still wearing that smile.

“Well! We should get going! I have a lot to do at home and I've already been away for so long!” he declared. 

Red didn't know what came over him. He didn't know what made him act all of a sudden, but before Blue had the chance to completely turn away from him he had jumped up too, grabbing Blue's hand to stop him from leaving this spot. 

“i. uh.”

“Hm? Was there anything else?” Blue asked, looking at him with a mixture of surprise and confusion. 

Red felt his soul hum harder in his ribcage. It was so intense, surely Blue must be able to feel the vibration on his hand. His skull was heating up more and more and he didn't even want to know how he looked, probably like some dumb piece of fruit or whatever. 

“i. iwannnngh. c-can we…”

It was as if there was something clinging to his soul, clogging up his magic so he couldn't speak. The longer Blue looked at him with that look of confusion, the subtle, exhausted sadness underlying every other expression on his face softened by nothing but concern for his friend, the more Red felt choked up and he needed to speak but… but what if Blue… 

What if he didn't feel like that? 

Of course Blue wouldn't overreact about it, but… 

He wouldn't. 

He would never, because Blue wasn’t like that.

And so Red wouldn't either.

Just as quickly as it had come, the obstruction vanished and Red felt himself breathe easily again. 

So what if Blue didn't reciprocate? It didn't matter. It was as Blue said: Red would never let Blue down. He would always support him. Always be kind to him. If Blue didn't feel the same way… then Red would step back, do his best to make sure he didn't make Blue uncomfortable, and continue to support him as his friend. He cared about Blue too much to do anything else. 

His resolve made his soul tremble in a different kind of way. 

“i wanted to talk to you about something for a while now,” he finally managed to say, his voice now completely steady. “in private.”

Blue's eye sockets widened, if in preemptive realisation of what Red was getting at or out of more surprise, Red didn't know. 

But Blue's hand squeezed his a little tighter where he held it, and for Red that was more than enough.


End file.
